Ute Poerschke

Ute Poerschke, professor and associate department head for graduate education, teaches architectural design and technical systems integration/comprehensive studio.

Prior to her tenure at Penn State, she taught design, construction, and environmentally responsible architecture at the Technical Universities of Berlin and Munich (1999–2005) and completed her doctoral degree in architectural theory at the Technical University of Cottbus in 2005.

She is a licensed architect and licensed urban planner in Germany, an international member of the American Institute of Architects, and a LEED-accredited professional. Poerschke is a principal of the firm Friedrich-Poerschke-Zwink Architekten | Stadtplaner in Munich, Germany, and co-editor of the architectural journal Wolkenkuckucksheim | Cloud-Cuckoo-Land.

Poerschke’s research focuses on the relationship of architecture and technology, the theory of functionalism, and the interpretation of how architects integrate aspects of technology with expression in architectural projects and education. Most of her recent work focuses on the high modernism of the 1920s to 1960s, particularly on how architects responded to the progressing lighting and heating, cooling, and ventilation science, technology and engineering of the time.